What do you consider fair compensation and what are you willing to do to get that fair compensation?

13 comments

1. Honestly the industry needs government intervention and regulating. Teachers need to be vetted. No more TEFL or online certs or nothing for that matter. Proper credentials that are validated through the ministry of education. On top of this special teacher licensing. Government run hiring portal for BOE use with registered teachers that can be selected for interviews. And of course salaries of equal stature to that of Japanese teacher’s. This being all for public school.

   Private schools require stricter regulating and more rules on who they can bring over. No more dodgy taxes and contracts and more qualifications required to sponsor visa.

   Unpopular I know

2. It’s supply and demand. Many people want to teach in Japan just for the experience so supply in higher than demand. Besides I wouldn’t think higher salary would make much difference in teaching quality

3. Minimum – 250,000 a month, every month ( no pro rata bullshit in summer holidays) plus insurance and pension. Tis but a dream…. Standards to match income- whether that’s a CELTA or a 1,3,5 years experience will depend on the job.

4. I hate to have to say this, but most people aren’t willing to do anything to get the higher pay and benefits. They want them, but don’t have any ambition to do what would allow them to move up and out of the entry-level, low-paying jobs they are in.

   Everyone who comes to Japan knows what they will be paid and accepts it. And once they are here and have worked for a while, they also know what would be involved in moving on to jobs that pay better.

   So why don’t they? Why don’t they get the teaching qualifications that are necessary to move on?

   Why don’t they save some of the pay towards Celta, Delta, or an MATESOL? Or why don’t they go back to school to move into a different industry, or study Japanese to become a translator, or any of the other jobs that are open to foreign residents that pay better than ALT/eikaiwa?

   They don’t want to, or don’t want to make the effort, or else didn’t plan for the future and are now in a place where they can’t take chances or spend the necessary time or money.

   I am with the union in their fight for better pay and benefits for ALTs, since I don’t think people should starve, and everyone should get the same social safety net. But I also don’t I think high pay and benefits should just be handed out to unqualified people who have no ambition to work their way up. Keep in mind that when I say this, I’m thinking of the good number of people here who say things like, “I’m happy with my low pay, no stress, easy eikaiwa job” or “As an ALT I don’t get paid much but I spend most of my time in the teacher’s room studying or reading or playing computer games.”

   To get better pay, you have to be willing to upskill. That’s how the world world works – companies pay you what they think your expertise is worth, so if you have no real expertise, well, you won’t get paid much, will you.

5. It’s supply and demand. The number of people who want to move to Japan (but aren’t qualified to do anything else) is skyrocketing, but the number of jobs stays the same. So it doesn’t matter if teachers aren’t being retained due to poor working conditions/pay, when they have hundreds of people lined up to take your spot.

   Requiring actual teaching qualifications would eliminate 90+% of the people trying to move here and would incentivize them to actually retain teachers. Will never happen, though and this industry will continue to circle the drain. People will still keep coming here regardless of how bad it gets, though, so things aren’t ever going to change.

6. Leave teaching.

7. First of all, it is considered a longstanding social norm in Japan for company loyalty to mean something in terms of steady pay raises, consideration, and some other perks. That concept is getting murdered in the broader Japanese labor market; but that does not make the yearning for loyalty to be rewarded bad.

   In my experience meeting people – and I have met hundreds of people in the field – there are people who are perfectly comfortable making just enough to enjoy a vacation three times a year, go out twice a month, and buy a video game sometimes. That’s fine.

   However, there are many, many other workers who really are busting their balls out of a desire to be recognized by management or just out of love for their company and their clients. Those people are *not* failing to demonstrate value; they are being taken advantage of. Sometimes, they finally demand better from the company. In those cases, companies these days seem more likely to balk at the demand or just try to get rid of the worker, thereby cutting off their nose to spite their face.

8. Probably incredibly unpopular but: I’d take a pay cut for more job security. Too many schools want you out after a few years so they can hire someone new. Too many schools have too much of a “English tourist coming to Japan so you can exchange culture before they go home!” mentality.

9. I don’t have any issue with pay but I always volunteer for summer school over the long 2 month summer break. You can make an easy 20-30,000 per day for just a few hours work.

10. Unqualified private school teacher here.

    I like working with kids. I’m not about to shy away from any criticism regarding my job. This is the hardest job I’ve ever had in my life.

    I work hard (60 + hours a week) to make 270k. I plan my own lessons, I do the work as best as I can, I’ve received 0 training from the school. I have ridiculous expectations from admin and parents for what the children should be capable of.

    I looks for a new eikaiwa job and got it at 280k. It requires less than half of the work. I just have to entertain salarymen for 40 hours a week. It comes with insurance and benefits.

    Why should I be motivated at my current job? The kids? Sure, I care about the kids, but fuck that. Either of these jobs will go anywhere, except I have more free time and make more money at the eikaiwa than I do at the one that’s supposed to be serious.

    If I’m just another shitty English teacher, sure, fine, pay me like one. But also expect me to be one. If they want better teachers with qualifications, that’s fine, but don’t pay me and someone with a masters the same money.

11. More pay = happier workers.

    Lets not play game and pretend that shit don’t matter. There’s reason why people say, “I don’t get paid enough to do this shit. “

12. Short version: regular salary raises based on experience and skills, like the average Japanese worker. Related to that, more support from employers for skilling up.

    Case in point, I’ve been going above and beyond my job description and have spent quite a bit of time reading up on teaching methods and the like in my relatively limited free time (mostly for my own job satisfaction (and to be able to pursue other opportunities in the future)), but if I got another teaching certificate and showed it to my employers, they’d likely shower me with praise but then apologise that they can’t pay me more (after offering vague promises of better salary earlier).

    There is, in a way, little incentive for ALTs in the public sector to improve their skills, which is bad both for the ALTs and for the students. Private schools are a somewhat different story, but I’m no expert on those.

    Some people argue that a teaching license should be a basic requirement for ALTs, and on some level, I agree. The problem is that it isn’t realistic. Teacher salaries in Japan are abysmal when compared to those in many western companies, especially considering all the unpaid overtime Japanese teachers are expected to do. They would simply be unable to find more than a handful of new teachers, and the vast majority would only be here very briefly.

    Can’t say much about the eikaiwa business, I haven’t worked at an eikaiwa. But if I were to work there, I’d say the same. If the company offered me courses (or funding to take courses in my own time) to improve my teaching skills, I’d take them up on it. Doubly so if that resulted in better pay. If a company offers an employee the opportunity to improve their skills but they don’t take them up on that offer, then I’d say there’s an argument to be made that the current salary is sufficient.

13. As a direct hire ALT my main concerns are less about compensation and more about job security. Having to reapply for my own job is pretty stress inducing, and the one year contracts are the main thing pushing me to search for a way out of this industry.